'And We're All Gonna Die!' Search Engine Optimization, Journalists, and Facts

"Writing for the Machine: Hysteria among journalists" reminds me of an old joke I just made up:

Recipe for fear and panic:

• Take one handful of journalists
• Add a pinch of facts
• Fold in one gallon of assumptions
• Shake vigorously
• Serve before facts rise to surface

The first paragraph of "Writing" reads, "Last year, The New York Times published an article called "This Boring Headline Is Written for Google," which focused on the effect search engines are having on journalistic writing. The primary focus was on the negative impact of "writing for machines" and the corresponding loss of creativity such an endeavor entails."

My hat's off to a real writer, who brought this post up in a BlogCatalog thread.